Automatic feed control for weighing and packaging machines



Dec. 23, 1941. f RAF? 6 2,266,906

AUTOMATIC FEED CONTROL FOR WE'IGHING AND PACKAGING MACHINES Filed July 27, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 7'? 7 KR) I z V /r0e v 7/7E000 eE E/I PP.

5y iffX T. RAPP Dec. 23, 1941.

AUTOMATIC FEED CONTROL FOR WEIGHING AND PACKAGING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 27, 1938 72500085 EFF/D. 5y

Patented Dec.23, 1941 2,266,906 AUTOMATIC FEED My invention relates generally to automatic weighing and packaging machines, and more particularlyto means for automatically controlling the operation of the conveyer or carrier that feeds the product to the weighing and packaging machine- I The principal object of my invention is to provide relatively simple and eiiicient means that will act automatically to cutout the operation of the conveyer or other means that feeds or delivers the product to the weighing and packaging machine,in the event of an overflow or above NT OFFICE ON TROL FOR WEIGH- ING AND PACKAGING MACHINES Theodore Ram Los Angeles, Calif. Application July 27, 1938, Serial No. 221,575

normal feed of the product into the vibrating troughs of the machine. I

A further object of my invention is to provide a material feed or flow control means having a hopper that receives the product that is being weighed and packaged from an endless conveyer, the latter being drivenby an electric motor, and said hopper delivering the product into a vibrating trough, wherein a member that is mounted for swinging movement extends downwardly into the hopper and which is adapted to be actuated by an overflow of material delivered into and passing through said hopper for actuating a switch to open the electric circuit to the motor, thus automatically cutting out the operation of the conveyer that is driven by said motor.

Afurther object of my invention is to provide a weighing and packaging machine feeding means, with an intermediate trough disposed between the vibrating trough that forms the bottom of the hopper and the spout from which the bags or containers that receive the product, are suspended, which intermediate trough is vibrated obliquely with respect to the line of travel of the product through the vibrating trough that forms the bottom of the hopper, so as to cause the product or material to travel toward and discharge from one side of the forward end of said trough, so as to bring about a more eflicient control of the product as it is successively delivered into the bags or containers.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, my invention consists in certain novel features of construction and arrangement of parts that will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a vertical section taken through the center of the automatic feed control as contemplated by my invention.

5 Claims. (0]. 198-3'7) the product receiving bags or containers are suspended.

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of the upper portion of the product conveyer and showing the driving connection thereof.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical section taken approximately on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the switch that controls the circuit to the motor that operates the endless conveyer. I

,Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic view of the switch and the connections to the conveyer driving motor.

Referring by numerals to the accompanying drawings which. illustrate a preferred embodiment of my invention, Ill designates the frame of an automatic weighing and packaging machine of the general type disclosed in U. S. Letters Patent No. 2,101,561 issued to me December 7, 1937, and which machine includes a spout II that is carried by a rod or rods 12 that extend upwardly from one of the platforms of a weighing scale (not shown), and which spout delivers the product that is being weighed and packaged directly 'into'bags or containers B that are suspended from the lower end of said spout.

Supported on the upper portion of the rear end of frame It), or the end opposite the end in which spout II is located, is a hopper I3 preferably formed of sheet metal, and which is divided by a. vertically disposed partition 14 into chambers I5 and 16, the lower portions of which communicate with a common chamber H, the

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the intermediate trough that is disposed between the'trough forming the .an inclined frame and trough bottom of which is open.

Leading to the upper end of the hopper I3 is [8, at the upper end of which is journalled for operation a roller l9 over which operates an endless conveyer 20 of the belt type.

. Mounted on one end of the roller [9 is a sprocket wheel 2|, around which passes a chain 22, and the latter also passing around a sprocket wheel 23 that is carried by one end of a journalled shaft 24. Shaft 24 is driven from an electric motor 25 and in order that said shaft may operate at the proper speed, a conventional speed reduction gearing is arranged between the shaft of the motor and shaft 24.

My improved product feed control is especially designed for use in connection with machines that weigh and package products that are'more or less bulky and of irregular shape; for instance, potato chips; pretzels; doughnuts; small cakes and cookies; marshmallows; candy and the like; and it has been found by practice projecting at right (see Fig. 6).

that the the troughs that lead to the spout from which the bags or containers are suspended, should in order to achieve best results, be regulated and controlled to a greater degree than granular or pulverized products.

In order to temporarily out out the conveyer that delivers the product to the hopper E3 in the event of an overflow of the product, I provide a switch in the circuit to the motor 25 and which switch is actuated when an overflow or abnormal feed or flow of such products through 4 amount of product accumulates in the chamber 7 ill in the bottom of hopper it. The switch actuating means versely disposed rock shaft 2% that is mounted in bearings ti on top of hopper it above and to the sides of the chamber it; and secured depending from this shaft is a rod 28 having its lower end portion bent at right angles as designated by 29.

Loosely mounted on one end of this shaft 26 is a sleeve til that is secured to the shaft by a set screw 3i, thus enabling the sleeve to be adjusted to difierent positions on said shaft, and angles from sleeve 3t is a short cra arm 32. Secured to arm 32 is an outwardly projecting pin 33 that passes beneath the free end of a switch lever 36, the latter being pivoted at 35 within a switch box 35. Lever as carries a contact El that normally engages a contact 38 that is located in the bottom of the switch box, and one line of the motor circuit 39 is connected to contact 3% while the other line is connected to the pivoted end of lever 35 Positioned beneath the open lower end of the hopper i3 is a vibrating trough 36 that is carried include a trans? to and "aee aeoe thus the product that is fed forwardly through said trough 5!! will be moved to one side of said trough as it approaches the discharge end thereof, instead of being spread entirely across the forward end of the trough.

In addition to efiecting a forward feed of the product toward spout ll, the vibration imparted to trough 5t causes the material passing there= through to vibrate vertically, thus in efiiect separating individual pieces of the product as the and packaging of various products, by reason of by the upper ends of thin plates ll of resilient move the product forwardly through said trough out of the open lower end af the hopper.

Trough 40 discharges into a vibratory trough 5ll, which latter is supported by a. plate 5| of resilient metal, the lower end of which is secured to a platform 52, which latter is. supported by blocks 53 of rubber, and the latter being mounted on platform 44.

A resilient plate 5i occupies a transverse oblique position beneath the trough 50, and carried by the upper portion of said plate is an armature 54. Positioned adjacent this armature is an electromagnet 55 occupying a correspondin oblique position, and which magnet is carried by the upper end of a bracket 56 that is mounted on" platform 52.

Projecting from the right hand side of trough 50 is a stem 51 and mounted thereon is a weight 58. In some instances to achieve the desired results a weight or weights may be applied to both sides of trough 50.

By arranging the resilient plate 5|, armature 54, and magnet coil 55, obliquely with respect to the trough 50, the latter will be vibrated obliquely or at an angle with respect to the trough 40, and

the lower-ends of said, plates are the fact that the concentration of the product in a narrow stream provides for greater accuracy of the weighing of the product as it is discharged into the bags or containers suspended from spout Where tively narrow stream, the flow of material is much more marked and defined than where the stream of material extends throughout the width of the trough, and in the latter there is a greater tendency of individual pieces of the product to drop from the end of the trough into the spout it, thus adding to the material already discharged into the receptacle a slight amount of material over the predetermined amounts that are being weighed and packaged;

the material is concentrated in a rela- The weight '58 projecting from the side of I of the weight causes an irregular motion of the trough 5b as it is vibrated, and which motion enhances the tendency of the product to travel toward the right hand side of the trough, and to discharge in a narrow stream from the right hand portion of the forward end thereof.

The energization of the magnets 58 and 55 are controlled by automatic switches that are actuated by the tilting movement of the scale beam that supports the rod or rods l2, and by reference to my issued Patent No. 2,101,561 it will be understood that when a predetermined amount of product has been delivered into the bag or container suspended from spout II, the circuit or circuits to the magnet coils are opened so that the vibratory movement of the troughs 40 and 50 cease.

In the operation of my improved feeding means. the product is delivered by endless conveyer 20 into the chamber l5 within hopper l3, and such product discharges from the open lower end of the hopper into trough 40. As this trough is vibrated, the product will be fed or caused to flow forwardly through said trough, and such product will finally discharge into the trough 50 which is.

the cut-ofi or cessation of of the product will cause the scale beam that supports the rod or rods I! to tilt, and such action actuates the switches to open the circuits to magnet coils 48 and 55, thus bringing about a cessation of the vibrating troughs, and the attendant of the machine now removes the bag or container and places an empty bag or container on the spout l l.

When the weight is taken oil the scale beam as the result of the removal of the filled bag or container, the switches in the electromagnet circuits will be closed with the result that vibratory movement will be imparted to the troughs Ill and 50 to move the product lengthwise therethrough.

In the event of an abnormal delivery of the product into the hopper [3 by the endless conveyer, the product will pile up in the lower portion of the hopper above the rear end of trough 40, and this accumulation of product will engage the lower end of rod 28 and the finger 29 projecting at right angles therefrom, and swing said arm forwardly through chamber l6 or to the position as illustrated by dotted lines in Fig. 1. As such movement takes place, shaft 26 from which rod 28 is suspended, will be partially rotated, thereby swinging the free end of crank arm 32 upward, and the pin or rod 33 which passes beneath the free end of lever 34 will swing said lever upwardly a short distance, thereby disengaging contact 3'! from contact 38.

Thus the circuit to the motor 25 that drives conveyer will cease to function until normal conditions have been brought about by the carrying away of the excess product by the vibrating trough 5t". When the level of the product lowers in the lower portion of chamber ll, rod 28 will by gravity swing back to its normal position, thus permitting lever 34 to return to its normal position and re-establish the circuit to the motor that operates the endless conveyer.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided an automatic feed control for weighing and packaging machines, that is relatively simple in construction, inexpensive of manufacture, and very efiective in performing the functions for which it is intended.

The volume flow of the product delivered to themachine automatically controls the operation of the endless carrier that delivers the product to the machine.

Oblique and vibratory movement that is imparted to trough 50, as well as the vertical vibratory movement, causes the product passing through said trough to move toward one side of the discharge end of said trough and at the same time the individual pieces of the product are separated and this result controls toaconsiderable degree, the discharge of the product into the bags or receptacles, so that a greater accuracy and uniformity in the weight of the packaged products is obtained.

It will be understood that minor changes in the size, form and construction of the various parts of my improved automatic feed control for weighing and packaging machines, may be made and substituted for those herein shown and described without departing from the spirit of my invention, the scope of which is set fort in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In an automatic feed control for weighing.

and packaging machines, the combination with a vibratingtrough, of a fixed hopper positioned above said trough, the lower end of which hopper is open so that said trough provides a vibrating bottom for said hopper, a motor driven conveyer arranged to discharge product into said hopper, a partition within the upper portion of said hopper and dividing the space therein into two chambers that communicate with a common chamber in the lower portion of the hopper and a member-extending downwardly through one of the chambers in the upper portion of said hopper into thecommon chamber in the lower portion thereof and adapted to be actuated by an overflow of product delivered into said hopper by said endless conveyer for controlling the operation of the motor that drives said conveyer.

2. In an automatic feed control for weighing and packaging machines, the combination with a vibrating trough, of a fixed hopper positioned above said trough, the lower end of which hopper is open so that said trough provides a vibrating bottom for said hopper, a motor driven conveyer arranged to discharge product into said hopper, a circuit in which said motor is located, a switch in said circuit, a partition within the upper portion of said hopper and dividing the space therein into two chambers that communicate with a common chamber in the lower portion of the hopper and a member extending downwardly through one of the chambers in the upper portion of said hopper into the common chamber in the lower portion thereof and adapted to be actuated by an overflow of product delivered into said hopper by said endless conveyer for actuating the switch in said motor circuit.

3. In an automatic feed control for weighing and packaging machines, the combination with a fixed hopper provided in its upper portion with a pair of separate chambers and in its lower portion with a chamber common to the chambers in the'upper portion of said hopper, of a trough arranged below said hopper and providing a bottom for the common chamber in said hopper, means for imparting vibratory movement to said trough, a conveyer for delivering product to one of the chambers in the upper portion of said hopper, electric motor driven means for operating said conveyer, a circuit in which the electric motor of the driving means is located, a switch in said circuit, a rock shaft journalled on top of the hopper above the other one of the separate chambers in the upper portion thereof, an arm carried by said rock shaft for engaging and opening the switch in the motor circuit and a member secured to said rock shaft and extending downwardly through one of the chambers in the upper portion of said trough, the lower free end of which member terminates in the lower portion of the common chamber in said hopper.

4. In an automatic feed control for weighing and packaging machines, the combination with a trough and means for imparting longitudinal vibratory movement to said trough, of a fixed hopper positioned above said trough, a partition within the upper portion of said hopper to provide a pair of separate upright chambers in the upper portion of said hopper, the space Within the lower portion of said hopper constituting a chamber that is common to the lower portions of said upright chambers, said vibrating trough forming a moving bottom for the common chamber in the lower portion of said hopper, a coninto the common chamber in the lower portion l0 of said hopper and terminating a short distance above said vibrating trough.

5. An automatic feed control for weighing and packaging machines as set forth in claim 4 and with a short portion of the lower end of said rod extending horizontally in the direction of travel of product through the common chamber in the lower portion of the hopper and through said vibrating trough.

TIEODORE RAPP. 

